by Valeria Fanelli –

The Vic Theatre hosted Jovanotti’s concert on Oct.18 and brought together a large part of the Italian community in Chicago.

Jovanotti, 46, is a great celebrity in Italy and all over the world. He started his music career in 1988 and he is now celebrating his International success with a tour in the U.S. While in North America he toured in many cities like New York, San Francisco, Miami and Boston.

His young, fresh attitude at the concert was the same as always. He introduced American audiences to him with the release of Italia 1988-2012, a career retrospective including four new tracks.

The music mixed sounds from all over the world and melted together Italian, South American, and African rhythms.

Lorenzo Cherubini -Jovanotti- hit the stage and made the crowd dancing for about two hours.

Red pants, red shirt and an unconventional yellow tie, the singer expressed his love for the U.S. and for the city of Chicago, using both Italian and English languages.

“What a beautiful place and what a beautiful people,” he said. “Chicago makes it happen. This rhythm is for you.”

Band member Saturnino -bass- said he loves Chicago and was very excited to perform in the windy city.

“Unfortunately I do not come very often to Chicago, this is only my third time,” he said.

Many members of the Italian community attended the event. Italian General Consul in Chicago Alessandro Motta said he enjoyed the performance and loved that Jovanotti chose to include Chicago on is U.S. tour.

“He is the most transverse of the Italian artists,” he said. “Jovanotti represents all Italian regions.”

Jovanotti has already achieved rock star status in much of the rest of the world. In Italy, most recent studio album, 2011’s Ora (Now), debuted at number one there, went on to become the best-selling album of the year, and resulted in sell-outs over 50 arena and stadium dates.

Outside Europe, Jovanotti has long been a favorite of Latin American listeners and artists, including Oscar winner Jorge Drexler and Juanes, with whom Jovanotti has collaborated live and on recent recordings. Although Jovanotti is still in his early 40s, a whole generation of younger Latin alternative artists grew up admiring him.

Jovanotti’s U.S. concerts have been highly successful, too. In the summer of 2009, he and a mostly US-based band performed 16 sold-out shows at downtown New York clubs.
In Sept. 2012, the Tuscan artist, who has sold over five million albums in his native Italy, took up residence in New York.